1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a telephone apparatus connectable with two telephone lines and having an automatic telephone message management function.
2. Description of the Related Art
An automatic telephone message management apparatus has recently been used widely because of its utility. Furthermore, an automatic telephone message management apparatus connectable with two telephone lines has rapidly been put into use in order to answer various needs.
A conventional telephone message management apparatus connectable with two telephone lines will be described hereunder with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 6 is an external view of the automatic telephone message management apparatus connectable with two telephone lines. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a main body of the automatic telephone message management apparatus. In FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, reference numeral 1 denotes a main body of the automatic telephone message management apparatus, reference numeral 2 denotes an operating section operable by an operator to accept an input from outside to the apparatus, and it comprises a telephone-message-recording-mode setting button 20 for setting ON/OFF states of a telephone-message-recording-mode changing switch 14 (described later), a key input unit 21 composed of buttons necessary for making a telephone call, and a reproducing button 22 for reproducing a message of a telephone caller recorded on an analog signal recording cassette tape stored in a recording/reproducing unit 13 (explained later).
Further, reference numeral 3 denotes a microphone unit, reference numeral 4 denotes a speaker unit, and reference numeral 5 denotes a display unit composed of an LCD and the like for displaying various information. This display unit 5 is incorporated in the main body 1. Reference numerals 6 and 7 denote telephone lines, respectively, and reference numerals 8 and 9 denote circuit interface units for connecting and closing the telephone line 6 and the telephone line 7, respectively. Reference numeral 10 denotes a circuit switching unit for switching between the circuit interface unit 8 and the circuit interface unit 9. Reference 11 denotes a voice processing unit for processing a voice signal, and reference numeral 12 denotes a central control unit for controlling the operation of the whole apparatus. Reference numeral 13 denotes a recording/reproducing unit capable of holding an analog signal recording cassette tape and recording/ reproducing a message of a telephone caller. Reference numeral 14 denotes a telephone-message-recording-mode changing switch for switching the connection between the voice processing unit 11 and the recording/reproducing unit 13 to be switched on or off.
With respect to the conventional automatic telephone message managing apparatus connectable with two telephone lines, as constructed by the above-described component units, the relation between these component units and the operations thereof will be explained.
Firstly, in an initial state, the telephone-message-recording-mode changing switch 14 is in the OFF state. In this condition, when a telephone call is made on the telephone line 6, the central control unit 12 controls the circuit switching unit 10 to connect and close the circuit interface unit 8 and the voice processing unit 11. At the same time, a call is made to a user, and the display unit 5 displays that a telephone call has been made. The user of the main body of this automatic telephone message management apparatus can have a usual telephone conversation by using the microphone unit 3 and the speaker unit 4. Here, a base band signal inputted from the microphone unit 3 is processed in the voice processing unit 11 and sent out via the circuit switching unit 10 and the circuit interface unit 8 to the telephone line 6. Conversely, a voice signal inputted from the telephone line 6 is produced as a voice from the speaker unit 4 via the circuit interface unit 8, the circuit switching unit 10 and the voice processing unit 11.
In this state, when a telephone call is made from the other telephone line 7, the central control unit 12 perceives this telephone call and performs the same signal processing as the above-described case where the telephone call was made on the telephone line 6. Then, the central control unit 12 makes the display unit 5 display information indicative of reception of the telephone call. As a consequence, the user of the main body 1 of the automatic telephone message management apparatus can recognize that a telephone call is made on the other telephone line 7 and can have a usual telephone communication with a telephone caller on the telephone line 7 while holding or disconnecting the telephone line 6.
Referring to a flow chart of FIG. 8, a description will be made of such a case where the user of the main body 1 of the automatic telephone message management apparatus is absent, by being out, for example, and cannot respond to a telephone call received either via the telephone line 6 or via the telephone line 7. First, if the user of the main body 1 of the automatic telephone message management apparatus depresses the telephone-message-recording-mode setting button 20 in the operating section 2, the central control unit 12 actuates the telephone-message-recording-mode changing switch 14. As a result, the telephone-message-recording-mode changing switch 14 is brought into an ON state so that the voice processing unit 11 and the recording/reproducing unit 13 are connected with each other (step 10).
In this state, when a telephone call is received via the telephone line 6 (step 20), the central control unit 12 instructs the voice processing unit 11 to reproduce an answer message, which has been recorded beforehand on a voice storage unit composed of IC and the like and disposed in the recording/reproducing unit 13 by the user of the main body 1 of the automatic telephone message management apparatus, and also to send out the reproduced answer message on the telephone line 6 (step 30).
The recording/reproducing unit 13 stores an analog recording cassette tape therein and starts a recording operation, after completion of sending out the above-described answer message, to record thereon a voice message of a telephone caller on the telephone line 6 via the circuit interface unit 8, the circuit switching unit 10, the voice processing unit 11 and the telephone-message-recording-mode changing switch 14 (step 40). Thereafter, when the central control unit 12 senses interruption of the telephone communication via the telephone line 6 (step 50), the central control unit 12 releases the connection between the circuit interface unit 8 and the voice processing unit 11, and the recording/reproducing unit 13 ends the recording operation (step 60).
Then, when the user of the main body 1 of the automatic telephone message management apparatus returns to his or her home and listens to the voice message of the telephone caller which has been recorded on the analog signal recording cassette tape stored in the recording/reproducing unit 13, the user depresses the reproducing button 22 in the operating section 2. Then, the central control unit 12 makes the voice processing unit 11 and the recording/reproducing unit 13 start their operations cooperatively so that the voice message of the telephone caller, which has been recorded on the analog signal recording cassette tape stored in the recording/reproducing unit 13, is produced via the voice processing unit 11 and the speaker unit 4.
When the automatic telephone message recording mode of the main body 1 of the automatic telephone message management apparatus is to be released, the user of the main body 1 depresses again the telephone-message-recording-mode setting button 20. Then, the telephone-message-recording-mode changing switch 14 is brought into the OFF state, and therefore the voice processing unit 11 is disconnected from the recording/ reproducing unit 13.
However, in the above-described conventional automatic telephone message management apparatus connectable with two telephone lines, there have existed the following problems in an operation of the apparatus at the time when the user of the main body 1 of the automatic telephone message management apparatus is absent, by being out, for example, and cannot respond to telephone calls on the telephone line 6 and the telephone line 7.
That is, while the recording/reproducing unit 13 is operating in response to a telephone call on the telephone line 6 as described with respect to the conventional example, if another telephone call is received via the other telephone line 7 (step 70), since the main body 1 of the automatic telephone message management apparatus is operating in response to the telephone call via the telephone line 6, the main body 1 is not allowed to respond to another telephone call via the telephone line 7. As a result, even when the central control unit 12 perceives reception of the telephone call via the telephone line 7, the central control unit 12 does nothing but send out a calling bell sound to the telephone line 7 (step 80), so that the telephone caller on the telephone line 7 is obliged to disconnect the telephone line 7 without leaving his or her voice message (step 90 and step 100).
As one measure for solving this problem, it may be conceivable that, as illustrated in FIG. 9 showing an external view of the main body 1 of the automatic telephone message management apparatus, two recording/reproducing units 13 may be provided each of which can mount thereon one analog recording cassette tape for each of the telephone lines.
However, with the above-described structure, the overall size of the main body 1 of the automatic telephone message management apparatus is increased, and also the manufacturing cost thereof is increased, which reduces consumer's purchasing motivation.